A couple attempted to commit suicide after a group of locals belonging to another community damaged their hutment in Rohaniya area of Varanasi on Saturday morning. The man and his wife doused themselves with kerosene,after which the woman set herself ablaze. The man suffered over 15 per cents burns too while trying to rescue his wife.

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The condition of the woman,who sustained over 50 per cent burns,is stated to be critical. Heavy police force has been deployed in the village to avoid any untoward incident.

Varanasi Additional SP (ASP) Pradeep Gupta said the people from a community had raised objections to the couple  Amarnath Seth (38) and Poonam (35)  raising a hutment on a piece of unused land,which is close to a graveyard in Bairvan village.

On Saturday,members of the community reached the hutment,forcing them to remove it. An altercation took place between the couple and the group of people,who later started pelting stones at the hutment and damaged it.

Upset over the incident,the couple poured kerosene on themselves,threatening to immolate in front of other locals who had gathered by then. Poonam set herself on fire immediately and ran towards a nearby field. Amarnath,who did not immolate himself,ran behind her carrying a blanket and covered his wife to put out the flames. He,however,sustained burns in attempt to rescue her.

The locals informed the police and the couple was rushed to the hospital.An FIR has been lodged against Shamsuddin and seven others of the same village who allegedly visited the hutment of the couple. However,no arrest has been made so far.

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Gupta also said that the couple had erected the hut with permission from local pradhan Lal Bihari Patel.

Prima facie it has come to light that the land belongs to the gram sabha,Gupta said.

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Station Officer,Rohaniya police station, Sageer Ahmed said the couple had erected the hut three days ago and was staying their along with their children. Earlier,Amarnath was staying at a house on rent in the same village,the SO added.